News article on "white whiskey" growth

[Jono]

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/09/03/moonshine-going-legit/?test=faces

Moonshine Going Legit?

By Richard Goldsmith

Published September 03, 2010

| FoxNews.com

"... from a distiller's perspective it's a thrill to sell unaged spirits at a premium. It means no sitting on inventory for months on end waiting for the proper time to sell — "

Good point, it is a very profitable item for the distilleries.

[Gillman]

Just a side note on this, which is that some of the whisky (not moonshine) may be aged in wood and filtered in carbon to take out the colour. In some places, this is done to ensure a particular palate, in others, you need to do it since the law mandates a minimum time in wood storage to earn the qualifier of, say whisky. Much of the white rum on the market is like this.

I wish I could take out colour (or partially) at home, I've had a number of woody whiskies in my day that would have benefitted from decolouration.

Any ideas how to jerry-rig this at home?

Gary

[cowdery]

Try Brita or other water filters.

[silverfish]

Try Brita or other water filters.

A google shopping search for Brita pitcher shows a number of them

priced between $10. - $20. Some hold 40 oz and fit in your fridge.

I may have to pick one up to try it!

[dmarkle]

Try Brita or other water filters.

I've heard that this is a trick being used by college students nowadays -- take your plastic handle of Vladimir vodka, run it through a multi-stage Brita setup, and boom! You have a "super premium" vodka coming out the other end. I've been told it works, for what *that*'s worth.

I doubt the filters last all that long, though.

[Gillman]

I'll try this, thanks.

Gary

[MJL]

To be frank I consider the white whiskey fashion to be just that; a fashionable trend of the day not destined to last. I certainly understand the desire of distillers to increase profits but offering unaged product for the same price as aged product. What I do not understand is the consumer demand for product at this price point. With the single exception of Bourbon afficinados (like ourselves) who want to be able to compare the liquor to the completed product, I see no point in buying what is in effect 'shine in a nice bottle with a label. Mind you, if white whiskey was sold as a bargain product, at reduced price due to lack of aging, I could see a market emerge for this. At this price point I see a fashion of novelty that will not last....my opinion for what is worth.

[Gillman]

I just sampled some White Owl Whisky from Highland Distillers in Alberta Province. It is an excellent product with a creamy, coconut-like taste - not at all like vodka and more like aged whisky, which this is in fact, with the colour stripped out by fine filtration.

By all rights this should take off in the bars as the next Grey Goose, doing that worthy product one better due to its fuller taste.

Gary

[cowdery]

It sounds like Frost Eight-80. I guess everything old is new again.

[Gillman]

Indeed white whisky as a style can be traced back to the 1870's at least as these notes show:

http://www.city.waterloo.on.ca/SeagramCollection/history/products.html

(Click on the image notes to get the fuller story).

Of course, all whisk(e)y is white when new and common whiskey, as it was termed in the 1800's, would have been white or just lightly tinted from the barrel.

We will never know (unless an old bottle emerges) what Seagram's white wheat whisky was like. Was it simply rectified spirit, a kind of vodka? Or was it distilled to a lower proof, as part of White Owl is clearly, and then filtered to take out the colour? Hard to say, but I suspect it was more in the former class.

Gary

[imbibehour]

I've tried a few out of curiosity more than anything, sure as heck wouldn't pay a lot of money for it that's for sure.

A friend came back from Ireland with some Irish shine. It was actually surprisingly tasty.

I am not sure if this is an emerging thing, trend, or what... I am not so sure about the idea of white whiskey being common, but I can see it in the context of say after dinner digestif or grappa like stuff. The problem with that is most places and restaurants with that kind of after dinner drinking don't really offer those things. It just doesn't happen here in the USA only in Europe, and I am not so convinced that even trying to markety shine as some sort of grappa will even work.

Or maybe it doesn't need to?